The present invention relates to a bracket for use in a curtain airbag for attaching a curtain airbag to be developed in a curtain-like manner along a side of a vehicle body of an automobile or the like and a curtain airbag apparatus provided with the same.
Hitherto, as one of airbags to be expanded and developed in the event of collision of a vehicle such as an automobile or the like, a so-called curtain airbag to be developed in a curtain-like manner along a side of a vehicle body is well known. This curtain airbag is configured such that, normally, the same is housed along an intersecting corner portion of a ceiling portion and a side surface portion of an interior of the vehicle body while being folded back into an elongated shape, and upon receiving an impact from the side by a side collision or the like, the gas is introduced into an inside thereof, and the curtain airbag is expanded and developed downward along the side of the vehicle body.
In general, this curtain airbag is attached to the vehicle body on both lateral sides in a vehicle width direction by fixing a plurality of attaching pieces (attaching piece portions) provided at an edge portion of an airbag at a predetermined pitch to a plurality of respective attaching portions provided at the intersecting corner portion of the aforementioned vehicle interior via brackets for use in the curtain airbag, for holding the attaching pieces with bolts or the like.
Further, there is sometimes a case that the bracket for use in the curtain airbag to be attached to one place is formed to have a large dimension in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle for the purpose of securing a holding strength and/or a fixing strength of the curtain airbag corresponding to an attaching position in the vehicle interior, and so forth. As for a bracket having such a large-length construction, there is one having a construction in which brackets, which are previously divided into plurality in the front-and-rear direction of the vehicle in consideration of making small for transportation and easiness for attaching to vehicles, are attached to a vehicle as one bracket while being integrally combined as one bracket. Such a bracket for use in a curtain airbag is described in, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-12976 (FIG. 12 etc.))
In recent years, along with a trend of multi-row seats in a vehicle interior (three rows or more), it is required to develop a curtain airbag across an entire interior in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle, and therefore it becomes difficult to arrange an inflator on an extension of the curtain airbag. Consequently, a construction, wherein the inflator is provided so as to overlap with the curtain airbag, is frequently adopted. Further, size reduction of an entire apparatus including the curtain airbag, the inflator, and a bracket is required.
An object of the present invention is to provide a bracket for use in a curtain airbag and a curtain airbag apparatus capable of arranging an inflator in an overlapping manner with the curtain airbag, thereby reducing the size of the entire apparatus.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.